Saturday, 20 January 2018

PRICES of basic commodities have in the past fortnight stabilised with major shops adjusting downwards the cost of various goods as business take heed of a recent call by President Mnangagwa to avoid unnecessary hikes.The President appealed to the businesses to be sensitive and conduct their activities ethically through maintaining reasonable and justified prices on basic commodities.

A snap survey conducted by The Sunday Mail last Friday revealed that a kilogramme of beef, which had been pegged at $8 since the festive season, is now being sold at an average $6 whilst a 2kg pack of chicken cutlets is now going for $8, from about $9.Parlenta mealie-meal is now being sold for an average $7.50, down from about $9.50 whilst a crate of eggs now costs US$4.99, from $6.A 2 litre bottle of cooking oil went down from US$4.90 to US$3.99 with a 2kg packet of sugar selling at $1.79, down from $1.99 during the Christmas holiday.Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) president Mr Denford Mutashu said efforts towards the normalisation of basic goods’ prices were beginning to bear fruit.“We are happy prices have started falling and I think the current effort to ensure price stabilisation has paid off,” he said.“As CZR, we are always pursuing efforts to stabilise prices and help the public as there is public outcry over price increases.”

Mr Mutashu encouraged those who are selling cash at a premium or using multiple pricing to stick to ethical business standards.“We are currently in various engagements with Government, which I am not authorised to speak about at the moment, but we are urging big businesses to respond to the decree (to reduce prices) and ensure that everyone plays a part.“For those who have been taking advantage and selling cash, we are urging them to stop the behaviour.”The acute rise in prices had been largely on basic commodities which rose by over 300 percent since September, thereby causing a public outcry.

This rise was attributed to higher costs on the supply side where some businesses have been failing to access foreign currency from the Reserve Bank, leading to them resorting to the black market to buy it.However, in some cases some businesses have been taking advantage of the situation to unilaterally increase prices and enjoy super profits.

President Mnangagwa’s calls to reduce prices saw the establishment of an ad-hoc committee, chaired by Vice President General Constantino Chiwenga (Retired), which is tasked with dealing with the sky-rocketing prices. Sunday Mail